Sewingroom thoughts

 I am lucky to have my own sewingspace. Even better, it`s a corner of my livingroom, separated by a sliding door. DH attached flanel covered boards on that door: my designwall.

It`s not big: about 3x2 metres, but it`s all mine. One exception: when the grandgirls come for sleepovers, it`s theirs. I clean the table and in no time everything is covered in colour pencils, drawing stuff, lego etc.

I`m always looking for ideas to make it better, better ways to place the furniture, storing solutions, that sort of things. Pinterest, instagram, blogs; I search them for ideas. Over time, a few things stood out…

Rugs…. Why?? The threads that will bury themselves there. I already have to get on hands and knees to vacuum them out the doormat!

Decor…. I see rooms covered in an abundance of decorations, bunting, haberdashery..stuff everywhere. Ah the dust it gathers ( I`m allergic and would sneeze constantly) Besides, it would distract me big time. In an ideal sewingroom, for me that is, it would be almost empty, minimalistic. I constantly struggle between `the need to display` and almost empty shelves.

Another item I often see: Singer Featherweights put on the highest shelves for decor purpose only. The machine is ,again, accumulating dust and that`s not a good thing imho. Besides: it`s so nice to actually use them and sew with your Feather..

This is my view across my table. Too busy, but no room e.g. to put the quilts elsewhere….

Fabric storage…..why oh why do so many people store their fabrics on open shelves? So you can see what you have?? Mine are in drawers. No dust, no discolouration and when I open them I can easily see what I have.

Other things that I see are: sitting with your back to the door ( makes me uncomfortable). Big cutting tables, small sewingtables. ( here the other way around, C can come over and sit across me:)

On the table now my iPad and notebook (writing down the measurements of the new project), a small ironingboard that`s big enough for blocks (belonged to my mum, must be at least 50 years old) with my normal iron and an antique one that I use as a clapper.

Last but not least the messy sewingrooms with godknowswhat scattered all over the floor, tables etc etc. Don`t get it, I would close the door and never come back. 

Ofcourse there are plenty of quilters with beautifully organised rooms too. With built in cupboards, nifty storing solutions, room for a computer desk….ah one can dream is it not?

Oh, about my previous post:  Meanwhile I found some quiltshops that are not too far away with fabrics that appeal to me. C and I will plan a roadtrip soon!

Let there be light!

There's a rail with spotlights on my designwall and one above my fabric dresser. There's no light above the area where I do my cutting. So a trip to Ikea was in order to get another rail. DH immediately got the drill to install it :)

Baking DD and I thought it was funny when the drill got stuck in the ceiling, DH did not agree...

 a few swearwords moments later, there was light!

 

Now I have to cut something so I can tell if it's all the way i want it and then DH will complete it all to be nice and neat.. Yeey!

On the way to Ikea I took Sven in for the much needed needle adjustments and he needs to be serviced as well. Sewingmachine doctor said it was very busy and that they were a bit understaffed, so fingers crossed I can pick him up again on tuesday. (on tuesdays the Husqvarna man is at the shop)

 

Tomorrow duty calls again and it's back to work after 7 weeks of free time.

sigh

i'd better start looking where I left my company shirt and apron

..and then there was LIGHT!

DH's bike is broken and he's struggling to fix it. Bad for him, but very good for me :)
No extra's rides means time for chores.
Today he put my new lightrail up. I had a cheapass rail with bad contacts. Every time I wanted to press or iron something, the lights went out or never went on at all. The drill was: calling DH, he went up a chair, did something with a screwdriver and I had light again....for a few minutes. I once got so frustrated that I took a swing with a ruler at it and smashed a lightbulb.
Yesterday I had enough and went to Ikea

Fillerstrips still have to be placed between the lightspots. DH will do that after I decided if the spots are in the right places. I still need to paint the board to cover the rail of my slidingdoor, but I am not into doing chores (I'm the painter in the house..).

Now I have so much light that I added a new notion to my ironing area

Now all i need is someone to kick my butt to get into my sewingroom and actually SEW instead of being a couchpotatoe

Welcome!

...to my sewingroom! It is not always this neat and clean, I admit. I clean it frequently though; I cannot sit and enjoy my own space when it's a mess. That distracts and annoys me big time. Clutter is okay when sewing a quilt, but once a project is finished, all has to be in its place again.

My room is attatched to the livingroom. It used to be my former bedroom. When Quilting DD moved out, our bed moved upstairs and tadááá: I had my own space. Just slide the door open and step in!

On the slidingdoor there's a friendship star quilt, that Corrine made for my 50th birthday.

First the fabric treasure chest. I always have 3 small quilts on the wall there; they change according to the season..

Tins with thread, ribbons etc. on top, a glass vase with pincushioncollection and on the side a wooden quiltrack. Not for displaying quilts,but for quilting purposes. I use it mainly during summer, so you don't have to hold a quilt on your lap when handquilting. Corrine's DH made it for me for that same birthday.

Let's move to the left and there's my big table. I use it for sewing, drawing, cutting, the laptop is there often etc. I usually sit where the machine is, Corrine opposite of me. Oh I forgot: my room is for 2 (or 3 when Quilting DD comes to play along) C has no sewingroom and is a frequent guest in mine. She even has her own can of notions on her side of the table..
Where the white chair is, that's where other familymembers are allowed :) The family pc aka the Monster, pc stuff, cd's, printer/scanner. The monitor can used as a tv as well.  As you can see I have a window; not a spectacular view (the neighbours frontdoor) but it's nice to have daylight..

This is on the wall between table and pc desk: the embroidery I did 100 years ago for DH and the miniquilt in 2007. It's there for DH to make him believe it's his room too. (Dream on..) It prevents discussion about he wanting a room of his own too. Ah men, it can be so easy...

Okay, futher left: the desigwall! At this moment the Attitude Girls panel is on it, but almost empty when I took this pic. In the corner my manikin (is that the correct word?) showing an apron that I still didn't finish. Behid her back the part of the pc desk that holds my patterns (behind the door) and books. If you slide my door further open, you have acces to the rulers and quilt templates. Also the ironingarea..

..and that's it! (I'm happy to post more detailed pics for those who are very nosy)
Ranette showed her room, Myra VIDEOTAPED hers (if you haven't checked that out, please do so now!)
and I'm anxious to see other's . So..who's next?

Sewing rooms..

Let me start by thanking you all for the uplifting and nice comments on the "I'm not doing so well" post. I'm doing a bit better, thank you. At least i'm not whining and crying all the time and that's a huge improvement :)

Secondly: Let's make 2011 a great year: health, love, creativity...

When I did some blogreading this afternoon, I came across Ranette, showing her tidy sewingroom. I enlarged and admired every picture on her blog and thought about my own spot where I keep my stuff.

I googled "sewingroom" and had a pleasant hour looking at all those different spaces  :)
People have small rooms, enormous ones, messy spots and very clean ones. Some even have their own fireplace!
Lots have different areas for sewing, cutting, ironing etc.
Some pics I randomly plucked from the internet:

Although I consider myself very lucky to háve a separate sewingroom, (only thing I had to do was to kick a child of mine out of the house and claim the space; easy!) I'd love to have different spots for every step of quiltmaking. (And ofcourse more storageroom!) My sewingroom has one huge table in the middle for sewing, cutting, eating, computer...and one fabric cabinet. Plastic fabric containers here and there... That's it.

No matter what sewingrooms there are and how big/small...one thing I don't get: why have so many people such small tables for their sewingmachine??? Even the lucky ones with a huge amount of space have tiny sewing tables. When I sew a quilt with my Husq. it's a huge mess on my table: piles of fabric, scissors, cutters, pincushion, tapemeasure, food.... You name it and it's there, somewhere..

Am I just messy and disorganised? (could well be!)

How does your sewingroom look like? Any great tips to get lots of stuff in a small room, organised?